March 04, 2011

Hi, just a quick note to let you all know that Vignette Vol 2 is now in store, the "Where the wind blows" fat qtr sets are also in and most of Sweet Broderie and the Lecien basics, we should, fingers crossed, have the rest of the fabrics in a couple of weeks.

Don't forget our retreat in July, come and meet Leanne, Rosalie and Melly for a day of fun and sewing!!

February 06, 2011

This is the view from outside our house, before and after...note the gum leaves are all gone...

This is the army cleaning up in front of our house, yesterday..

I have posted photos in the album on the right hand side, Yasi. We lost power at home on Wed night at 8.30pm, and still don't have it now, Sun 2pm. We have power here at Tinkers Cart and we slept here last night, John, me and Elle, Frosty, Sasha and Kitty, it was so nice to have air con.

People in Townsville all say we are grateful that there was no loss of life and it appears the main damage was to trees, note..see my nieghbours house in the album, a gum tree broke his house in the centre when it fell on the roof. I would like to share what it was like, and yes I am grateful that we are all alive..the noise was deafening, the winds howled and roared around us, we were downstairs and in the centre of our house and heard the full volume when we went to the loo, very scary. The pressure in the house changed and we had to keep popping our ears, the winds went on and on,from about 8.30pm wed night to 6am thurs morning. We have a 4m x 3 m window upstairs and everytime there was an extra strong wind gust, I waited to hear if the window would break, wondering what noise it would make, if indeed it did break. We had our radio and listened to reports all night, we finally fell asleep just before dawn and woke at 7am to look outside, the winds were still cyclonic, the light was grey green and very eerie, we looked across the road at our beloved river and were shocked, all the leaves were gone, it felt like we were the only people in the world, the wind was still howling, yet it was strangely quiet, we carried the dogs outside, they had to pee, I looked at the debris, but didn't register it, picked the dogs up and went back into our coccoon. We made a coffee on the gas camper cooker thing and then decided at 8am to go to the shop to check for damage. The number of trees down on our road was amazing, we live on the road that travel alongside the river and at least every second tree had fallen. All that day we stayed in our house, the winds were too strong to start cleaning up outside, on Friday the airport opened and planes started flying overhead, govt planes and defence and ses helicopters, we only had our tiny radio, and conserving power, we only listened to it for an hour at a time, so we didn't have a great picture of what was happenning around us, we felt isolated, we cleaned up our yard yesterday and the army came and cleared our road yesterday, that was surreal, to see so many soldiers and their equipment, they powered through the debris. We are starting to feel a bit more normal, and the shop will open tomorrow as usual, but of course life isn't "as usual" many people have been affected by Yasi and it will take many sewing mornings, coffees and cakes, and in our case champagne classes to completely recover. So my advice is too certainly"get on " with things but to be sure and talk about the terror of that night and the recovery period that follows. Stay in touch with friends and let people know if you need a helping hand or a friendly ear....thats all for now..hope I haven't rambled too much..but it has been quite a week..all the best Tracy

February 02, 2011

Hi, just a quick note, we are just a few hours before cyclone yasi hits, this storm is more life threatning than any other storm in Qld history. Several thousand people have been evacuated from low lying areas in Townsville, we have prepared the shop as best we could, storm water inundation is now our biggest worry, if the roof doesn't blow off first. Here at home we are ready,,it is just a waiting game now, our thoughts and prayers go out to all who will be affected by this "super storm," take care, see you on the other side!!!

January 07, 2011

Happy new year to one and all, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and a wonderful new years celebration. We have an exciting new year planned. We will be selling the kits for Homespuns new BOM "My Town" using Wild Rose fabrics by Moda, the full kit will be available in February to coincide with the first block to be published in Homespun, I will have a price for the kit shortly, and there will only be a limited number of these kits, so please call us on 0747552336 or email tinkerscart@yourhub.com.au to place your order, this BOM will only be available as a kit and not as a monthly post out.

The fabrics are just beautiful and the quilt blocks will be published each month in the Homespun magazine.

When Friends Gather...A Day With Friends

Tinkers Cart is also proud to announce that Leanne Beasley, Rosalie Quinlan and Melly, from Melly and Me will be our guests on Saturday 30th July in Townsville, at the C.W.A hall in Denham Street in Townsville. The cost is still $120 for the day, a $50 non refundable deposit is required on registration, numbers are limited, so please get your name down quickly, you don't want to miss out on a space for this fabulous day. Please call Tinkers Cart on 0747552336 or email tinkerscart@yourhub.com.au to secure your spot.

Our regular classes are back on in the 1st week of February,

Tuesday mornings - dressmaking and patchwork 9.30 am - 12.30pm

Tuesday night - dressmaking and patchwork 6.00 pm - 9.00pm

Wednesday night - patchwork 6.00 pm - 9.00pm

Thursday morning - patchwork 9.30 am - 12.30pm

All classes are $15 for the 3 hours and all levels are welcome. Please bring along what ever you are working on or if you want to try something new..bring that too, our teachers will help you in all aspects of your project and provide tuition and advise, and a healthy dose of fun!!

New fabrics arrive regularly and we also have a collection of fabrics for $10 per metre.

November 19, 2010

New at Tinkers Cart, Grabaroos, fantastic gloves for quilting, the protect your hands from pin pricks and scissor cuts, they keep your hands cool and comfortable whilst remaining a snug fit. The gloves are $16 a pair an d are available now, call us on 0747552336 and we can post you out a pair, or better still call in and see us in Townsville at 3/277 Charters Towers Road, Rising Sun, Townsville.

Also new at Tinkers Cart we have patterns for toothbrush rugs and the necessary tool together for $20.

These rugs are made using 2in strips of fabric and are a great way of using up your scraps, Sue, our fearless teacher will be able to show you how to make the fabulous rugs during our classes, please caal us for class details, or just come in and buy the pattern and go it alone!!

A gorgeous new panel, matching jelly rolls and fabric on bolt, all by the name of Lollipop, by Sandy Gervais for Moda.

Our full range is in the left hand column. Don't forget your ultimate Christmas present. the Janome 7700, at $3500 it will make you very happy, it has all of the must haves, acu feed - a fantastic built in walking foot, 11in x 5 in throat, makes sewing those large quilts a breeze, a huge extension table, a multitude of stitches to choose from, so go on spoil yourself...you know you deserve it..and you have been a very good girl....

November 10, 2010

Hi, we are in the airport at LasVegas, waiting to fly to L.A. and then to Australia, 17 hour flight, its really cold here, about 6deg, we are looking forward to some warm Townsville sun. The quilt market at Houston was amazing, we met so many amazing people and saw some fabulous fabrics, notions and general sewing stuff!!! When I get home I will give you all an update on the many new arrivals due at Tinkers Cart. These are some of the amazing people we met..you may recognise some of them...this is Anna Marie Horner,

this is Anna Griffin, we have three stories from her new range coming soon, black and white, red and white and china blue and white, just gorgeous.

The fabulous Amy Butler, her books are already available at Tinkers Cart.

The beautiful Rosalie Quinlan in Houston to launch her new range of fabric "sweet broderie" the full range will be available soon at Tinkers Cart

Leanne Beasley, launching her new magazine "vignette" which will also be available from Tinkers Cart, as will the fabric for the BOM quenn size quilt, featured each month in the magazine.

Joanna Figuerra, from Fig Tree Quilts, one of my all time favourite fabric designers.

One of the three designers from Sweetwater, they have a beautiful range "pure" which we have in full and a pretty new range shown in the picture which will be their next range.

A man who needs no introduction, Kaffe Fassett, he has a new book which we will have in store soon.

October 28, 2010

Hi, I am posting this blog from L.A., enroute to the Quilt Show in Houston. Tinkers Cart is happy to be a distributor of Leanne Beasleys new quarterly magazine called "Vignette" the cost will be $17.95. The first issue is out in December and Tinkers Cart will also be selling kits for a bom running in Vignette, for a queen size quilt. We will be using the same fabrics that Leanne has used and will have pricing on the kit available shortly. The bom quilt uses Rosalie Quinlans new range "sweet broderie" which we will be stocking in full, with delivery expected end of Nov, early Dec. Please call us on 0747552336 to secure a kit, or to sign up for a subscription to the magazine, or both. You can email us tinkerscart@yourhub.com.au

or come and see us at 3/277 Charters Towers Road, Townsville Qld 4812. Beautiful new bag closures have just arrived at Tinkers Cart. The full range is in the album on the right hand side, called beautiful buttons and closures.

The buttons are 2.5 inches across and are in antique silver, bronze and gold, they are just the thing to add a statement finish to your next bag.

Just a quick note, I bought some jeans here in LA and it seems that just by flying over here i have become a size 8, can you believe it..I may have to wear these jeans inside out, tag facing outward!!! { it appears that the sizing system is different here..what a bummer}!!

October 20, 2010

New fabric is always lovely and the first range by designers oliver + s, city weekend is no exception. Check out the range in the left hand column, we have jelly rolls and charm squares, the kit for the quilt above is $143.00 , the quilt measures 48" x 58".

We also have kits avilable for Nancy Halvorsens Tidings projects and the button sets are in store now for the Tidings stitchery.

John and myself are heading off to Houston, to see the Quilt market, looking forward to the break as well as all the new goodies we will see at market. We are taking the laptop and will send posts as often as we can, talk soon, Tracy